CHAPTER II: The Sharks
Buzz Buzz was panting, barely able to stay in the air. Remembering Tracy's cookie, Ness pulled it out, and shared it amongst his friends.
"That...was close..." Buzz Buzz said as he munched his fourth of the cookie. "He came from ten years in the future to kill us, so we can't relax yet! Let's get the tubby kid and the short kid home."
Pokey fumed indignantly. "He must mean YOU, Ness," He said, his fat rolls hanging out. "I am in perfect shape."
I didn't know muscle jiggled that much, Ness thought.
They opened the door to the Minch household, and there to greet them were the two furious parents of Picky and Pokey.
"Oh, boy," His father said. "Are YOU boys in trouble! I'm gonna wail on you so hard! You guys are grounded for a YEAR!" He chased the two boys upstairs.
Mrs. Minch looked down at Ness. "You must forgive Mr. Minch. He's much to lenient with the children."
Buzz Buzz had drifted over Mrs. Minch's head. "That's lenient?" He asked.
She took this as an insect noise. "Ah!!!!!!! I think it's a dung beetle!"
"Dung Beetle?! Madame, I assure you, I am the last of the Buzz Tribe! I-"
SMACK!
He couldn't finish. Buzz Buzz was killed by a fly swatter.
"No!" Ness cried, and grabbed the falling bee. "Do you realize what you've just DONE?" He yelled at Mrs. Minch before running out into the street.
The little bee coughed and spluttered. "Ne...Ness..." He said weakly. "You must...keep going...and...remember my last words..."
Ness nodded.
"To defeat...Giygas...your own power must...ugh...unite with that of the earth's...remember the three things needed to succeed..."
"Courage, Friendship, and Wisdom," Ness said, nodding again.
"You must go to each of the eight points on this planet that can channel your power...they are called 'Your Sanctuaries'...one is in Onett, called Giant Step...to harness their power, take this..."
A round, blue stone appeared in Ness' hand. "What is it?"
"The Sound Stone...It will record the...melodies of the sanctuaries...now...go...de-feat......Giy...gas..."
Buzz Buzz slept, never to awaken.
Ness gave Buzz Buzz a proper burial, and set off at the crack of dawn. He went south into the Suburbs of Onett. Stopping at the library, he went inside and borrowed a map from the librarian. As he came out, he remembered his friends in the tree house behind the library. He decided to visit them while he was in the area, and say good-bye.
The only one not on watch was Matt. Ness hailed him as he entered.
"Hey, Matt."
"Hi, Ness! Are we gonna play baseball again today?"
"Sorry, Matt. I've got to go. I probably won't come back for a while, and I might not come back at all."
"You're moving?!"
Ness thought about this for a second. "Yeah, I might be."
"Well, take my Mr. Baseball Cap. I know you always wanted it, so it's a sign of my friendship." he handed Ness a battered, but good-looking cap. Ness took off his own, and traded.
"Later, Matt."
"Try to visit, Ness."
From the tree house, Ness headed downtown, looking for any clue to the place called Giant Step. Unbeknownst to him, he had strayed onto the home turf of the Sharks. He was confronted as he passed the video arcade.
The Sharks wore skin-tight rubber suits with shark fins on their heads. All of them wore sunglasses, and bones were etched on their suits. They slid out of the alley with practiced quietness. One of them had a hula-hoop, another had a pogo stick, and still another carted around on a skateboard. They all fixed him with evil leers.
"Hey, kid," One of them said in a particularly un-bully-like voice.
"How's it goin', loser?" Another said.
"You walkin' on our turf, chubby?" The last asked roughly.
There was no avoiding it, Ness thought. These guys were itching for a fight, and it was inevitable. He decided to head off the preliminaries. The cracked bat whirled from its ring, and felled the Shark with the pogo stick. The Hula-Shark sent his hula-hoop whirling. It struck Ness in the jaw, and he flew back.
The Skate-Shark barreled towards him. He leapt, and struck the board against the wall of the arcade as Ness rolled away. The young man recovered quickly, twirled his bat, and slugged the Skate-Shark in the head.
The Hula-Shark grinned beneath his suit. "You're pretty fast for a fat kid," he said.
"Who's fat?" Ness declared. He leapt forward and kicked the Shark sharply in the groin.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed and squirmed as he fell to his knees. Ness pressed his bat to the Shark's sweating forehead.
"Now," He said slowly to the squealing kid. "Do you know about a place called Giant Step?"
"Frank does," His voice was noticeably higher. "Ask Frank!"
"Frank?...Who's Frank?"
"The Boss of the Sharks. Go ask him! He always said something about evil from Giant Step. Just leave me alone!"
Ness whirled his bat around, and set it in its ring. He turned, and walked away.
"That was dramatic," he whispered to himself with a smug grin.
He then stopped at the convenience store. He traded his cracked bat for a sturdier T-Ball Bat. It fit perfectly in his backpack ring.
Ness popped over to the burger shop next. He bought a few burgers and sets of fries to restore his energy. Finally, he returned to the arcade to confront Frank.
He found the Shark Leader in the back lot behind the arcade. The boss wore a red pinstripe suit, sunglasses that were pointed at the ends, and his hair styled into a shark fin. He carried a long switchblade in one hand.
"I take it that you're Frank," Ness hailed the strange-looking man.
"Who's askin'?"
"Me. Ness."
"Whadda 'ya want?"
"I want to know of a place called Giant Step."
"Back off, runt. I'm busy."
Ness took a step forward. "I'm not finished."
"You are now!" Frank threw himself towards Ness, the switchblade missing by bare inches. Ness swung his bat with all the force in his body, but Frank dodged quickly. The brawl lasted for nearly 15 minutes, both combatants struggling to get a hit in on the other.
Finally, Ness swung his bat behind Frank's legs, tripping him. Before the Shark Leader could rise, he was pinned down by the baseball bat.
"Now," Ness said. "About Giant Step?"
Frank sneered up at him, and yelled "Frankystien Mark II!"
A huge robot-looking thing rolled from behind a tree. It was huge, with a porthole with a Shark's leering face in it. The huge thing swung a punch. Ness dodged back.
"What the heck is that thing?" He cried as another punch was sent his way.
Frank grinned. "Frankystien Mark II is my back-up plan. Suffer, Spanky!"
The next punch connected. Ness' breath exploded from his lungs as the iron fist knocked the wind from him. Rolling, he stood.
"That thing's rough!" He said. The Frankystien generated a cloud of steam, and began rolling towards him on impossibly large treads. Ness crouched, readying his T-Ball bat.
"PSI Lifeup," He murmured to himself.
He swung himself at the rolling obstruction. His bat struck a solid blow to what looked like the thing's head, but it countered quickly with another devastating punch.
Ness quickly munched a hamburger for energy, and struck again. The results were the same.
For the next hour-and-a-half, Ness tried uselessly to bring the monstrosity down. Despite it's bulky size, the Frankystien Mark II moved like lightning.
As Ness landed from a particularly hard blow, he took note of his injuries. Some bad bruises on his stomach, a cut and bleeding lip, a bloody nose, and a black eye, not to mention a large, ragged cut on one arm from where the robot had thrown him into a picket fence.
Ness closed his eyes. "PSI Lifeup..." He whispered.
Nothing happened.
He tried again. And again. And again.
I must be too tired, he thought. I can't use my psychic powers.
He swallowed a few fries from his pack, and stumbled forward. He had a plan.
The monstrous robot charged him. Ness leapt to the side, and jumped on the thing's back. He held on as hard as he could, bashing the thing's head as best he could, granted his bad leverage.
After about three minutes of bashing, the head cracked. He bashed some more. It caved in, and broke. Ness climbed up to the stump, and began poking fiercely at the Shark within. He bashed and bashed until the Frankystien Mark II powered down, and stopped with an angry sputter.
Frank and Ness shook hands. Frank had wished to part in friendship.
"Fail-Proof Frank is now just Failure Frank," He said with a smile.
"Well, if I said I was sorry for beating you, I'd be lying. But I'm glad we can leave well enough alone."
The smile lingered. "Listen, Ness," he said. "Giant Step is an evil place. It's controlled by a powerful monster. I don't know what the monster is. But the place is to the north, behind the Entertainer's Shack. Here's the key."
He pressed a small key into Ness' hands.
"Thanks, Frank," he said. "Oh, are the Sharks going to stay around?"
"Nah. I've been beaten, and I'll disband 'em."
"Great. Well, thanks for the key. I'll see you when I get back."
As Ness walked away, Frank whispered to his pinstriped self.
"I don't know how I know, but you're adventure is just beginning..."